“This follow-up was honestly a little hard to write. Not that the past two and a half years were painful to revisit, but rather because they weren’t. I went to my interview with a guy that I had been dating for a few weeks and now we live together in Salt Lake City. He’s my best friend and I love him and sharing our lives. We garden. We travel. We entertain friends. There are times I think about going to community planning meetings, but I doubt I’ll ever do it.

In short, writing a follow-up that made my current life seem interesting or enlightening to others proved simply impossible. Still, my life as it exists now is not very different than the life I always envisioned for myself. Many people are not able to live their lives how they would like and to be able to do so, even if it is a life rather ordinary, makes me feel very fortunate, indeed.”

Clint knew he was “different” from a young age, but he didn’t accept that he was gay until after serving an LDS mission. As he tried to date women after his mission, things became difficult enough for Clint that he sought a therapist’s aid. During this time he accepted and came to terms with being gay. Clint had a testimony and still wanted to attend church, but the desire to truly connect with people by sharing every part of himself led to his decision to come out to his ward during fast and testimony meeting. This experience was mostly positive for Clint, and he stayed an active church member living a celibate lifestyle for several years. Since having a family has always important to Clint, he has now decided to leave the bounds of the church so that he can find a man he loves and start a family.